Mirror wills for £29.99- realistic?

Grandad99

I responded to a website ad by Legacy Wills and was quoted £29.99 for mirror wills  I suspect that when taking details in a phone session more costs will arise but it seems to be too good to be true.

I've paid -not much to lose - and got the terms and conditions.which look reasonable.  Standard practice is that they store the wills for an unspecified cost but will send them to us for a £50 charge.

Wills will be very straightforward -we own the house, only beneficiaries will be our daughters.

Thoughts on this very welcome.

Keep_pedalling

Personally I would never use unregulated will writers for such an important document. I would also not store such an important document with a company who may no longer be around when they were needed.

I am puzzled by the £50 charge to send them to you, surely they have to send them to you to be signed and witnessed so why not just hang on to them after doing that. Also be aware of up selling (LPAs & trusts). Not saying you don’t need LPAs but you can do those yourselves, and although a trust might be appropriate for you, often the main reason they are pushed is because they earn nice fat fees for the seller.

RAS

I'd never again store a will with a company. And certainly not one unregulated.

We had a nightmare extracting a will from a solicitors firm that had changed hands even though they weren't the executors. Can't go into details but cost a lot of time and money because they wanted us to let them execute the will.

Store a will with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

elsien

The last post about a similar company was someone who was then up sold LPAs for a lot more money then regretted it once they were committed.
Companies use these as loss leaders so if you do go ahead expect phone calls pushing other things. 

Goose_Grass

For something this important I would only use a local solicitor.  The couple of hundred pounds you might spend on simple mirror wills would forever give you peace-of-mind, knowing it had been almost certainly done right and that your daughters have some comeback if done wrong. 

One of the reasons I'm of this opinion is because of the litany of heartache and frustration that beneficiaries and executors share with us every day on this blessed board!

Robin9

Do go to a local solicitor - they will talk you through the "what-ifs"  -     your son/daughter predecease you -  they remarry - you remarry ........................   leaving to charity ......... executors (do use family/friend and not solicitor)   Go armed with all the names and addresses of the people involved.

MEM62

@Grandad99 One of the most important documents you will ever instruct - and you want to get it done on the cheap?   

Grandad99

Points taken. Cancelled and got full refund

Only need to make a minor alteration to reflect the financial positions of our 4 daughters.  2 have always been comfortable financially, the other 2 less so.  Our current will apportions the entire estate after the death of the last of us 30% to 2 of them and 20% to the other 2 

The financial gap has grown and we want to change the proportions to 40% and 10%. We have discussed this with the "losers" and they are quite happy about it.  

I have looked at the various forum posts about codicils and can't see  using one for this alteration would create any of the problems. I see that a codicil should not be attached to a will is it OK for it to be kept in the same envelope along with the Power of Attorney and other documents?

Penguin_

Mis read the titled as "Mirrored walls for £29.99"!!! 

Marcon

Grandad99 said:

Points taken. Cancelled and got full refund

Only need to make a minor alteration to reflect the financial positions of our 4 daughters.  2 have always been comfortable financially, the other 2 less so.  Our current will apportions the entire estate after the death of the last of us 30% to 2 of them and 20% to the other 2 

The financial gap has grown and we want to change the proportions to 40% and 10%. We have discussed this with the "losers" and they are quite happy about it.  

I have looked at the various forum posts about codicils and can't see  using one for this alteration would create any of the problems. I see that a codicil should not be attached to a will is it OK for it to be kept in the same envelope along with the Power of Attorney and other documents?

Yes. The important thing is to ensure that it will be 'found' at the same time as your will, so a clear plastic folder inside a large envelope should do the trick nicely.

savingsavvysurfer

Grandad99 said:

I responded to a website ad by Legacy Wills and was quoted £29.99 for mirror wills  I suspect that when taking details in a phone session more costs will arise but it seems to be too good to be true.

I've paid -not much to lose - and got the terms and conditions.which look reasonable.  Standard practice is that they store the wills for an unspecified cost but will send them to us for a £50 charge.

Wills will be very straightforward -we own the house, only beneficiaries will be our daughters.

Thoughts on this very welcome.

I've recently used wills.services to create my will to make sure I've got everything covered for my partner and son. I paid £29.99 for mine but also noticed that they had a free will option for NHS staff https://wills.services/nhs-free-basic-will, which I thought was a lovely gesture.

Based on my own experience, I don't think there is anything wrong with using online will providers as long as you have some support along the way for peace of mind you've included everything you need to.